Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith works professionally as a photographer, food and prop stylist, and illustrator. She's worked with West Elm, 3M, Design*Sponge, Meredith Publications, Fons & Porter and Spoonflower among other well-known brands. A garden & DIY lover, she is the photographer of the book Modern Terrarium Studio and a forthcoming book about embroidery crafts.

Passionate about shining a spotlight on maker entrepreneurs, she is also the owner of Gather, a maker-focused gift shop & classroom in Raleigh, North Carolina. She founded The Rock & Shop Market in 2004 (an event she organized for ten years). The market featured thousands of maker entrepreneurs alongside bands, djs and food trucks and was the first of its kind in North Carolina.

A pioneer in the hip, online craft movement, in 2004, Michelle founded and was the proprietress of the online boutique SmashingMirrors (later indieNC), which profiled and sold goods made by indie designers before sites like Etsy brought the same idea to the masses. In 2005, readers of Venus Magazine named her business Best DIY Business.

Prior to starting her businesses, Michelle worked as a graphic & web designer for seven years. She has also co-produced, marketed and merchandised a popular line of products for tween girls and was a DJ and Promotions Director for WXDU, Duke Universities radio station.

Her husband Ben, a scientist by day, is an entrepreneur too who concocts recipes by night with his business The Apothecary's Kitchen. They live in Raleigh, North Carolina with their elementary school-aged daughter, a prolific doodler who wants to be an artist, a singer, a robot scientist and a teacher when she grows up.